The Terminator Hits Town

ATTRACTIONS

Arnie Promised He'd Be Back, And Now He Is - In 3-d.

There has been plenty of hype about the special effects, the 3-D technology and - most intriguing of all - that trick they do with live actors jumping in and out of the movie.

It turns out, however, that technique isn't the only thing that's striking about ''Terminator 2 3-D.''

The real juice in Universal Studios Florida's new $60 million attraction comes from the story itself - that, and the charisma of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who delivers the same deadpan one-liners and chilly machismo of his first two Terminator movies.

Never mind if you missed them. You'll get enough of an introduction in the ''pre-show,'' which provides the opening chapter for an experience that combines film with live action and other in-theater effects.

The gist of the Terminator story is that the human race is headed for destruction by machines created by a greedy company called Cyberdyne Systems. Your basic sci-fi nightmare.

The sinister tone is set when you pass through the entrance of Cyberdyne's sleek art deco building on Hollywood Boulevard. Inside, video screens alternate between images of the folks standing in line (we're watching you!) and scenes of fighter jets and other contemporary defense and industrial technology.

It's off to the pre-show area where you're greeted by Kimberly, Cyberdyne's bouncy corporate spokeswoman. She starts up a video on the company's many applications of technology.

''Imagine a world . . . '' a gentle voice says over and over again, narrating what are meant to be heartwarming and reassuring images of technological advances. The mom tucking her daughter in at night, issuing commands to a robot over the little girl's bed from a remote video location. And the neurosurgeon doing surgery from the beach, using a virtual reality computer.

The video is just getting to Skynet, which Cyberdyne boasts will dominate global communications and command the nation's nuclear arsenal, when it's interrupted by Sarah and John Connor, who have somehow taken over the system. They're the mother and son heroes from the original Terminator movies who are out to save the human race.

They warn you to get out while you can. You can't.

The reception turns to static before the original video comes back. Out pops Kimberly, with a sugary apology for that ''silly little interruption'' before she whisks you into the theater for a demonstration.

Standing at a podium in the 700-seat theater, Kimberly punches commands into a console, and towering robots - T-70s, the predecessors to Arnold's T-800 Terminator - rise up on platforms lining the side walls. Powered by a sophisticated hydraulic system, the 8-foot-tall cyborgs raise their nasty looking weapons, train their laser scopes on targets and start firing. An acrid smell fills the room.

That's when Sarah and John Connor - in the flesh - suddenly drop down from the ceiling, sliding down ropes in one last attempt to stop Cyberdyne. Last thing you hear is ''Skynet means the end of everything!''

Then, the fun begins.

Out of some strange shifting shape on the movie screen comes the face of the T-1000, the nasty Terminator who was the villain in the second movie. He pops out of the screen and into the theater. Moments later, Arnold comes roaring out of a tiny ''time portal'' in the movie and onto the stage, riding a Harley Davidson ''Fat Boy.''

The rest is mostly 3-D movie, filmed at an abandoned steel mine in the California desert. The location gave director James Cameron, who did the first two Terminator movies, plenty of old buildings to blow up to create the look of Armageddon.

The filming was no ordinary task. To get the 3-D effect, Cameron's team had to film the action with two cameras simultaneously. And to get a sharp picture for the attraction's 23-foot-high, 50-foot-across screens, they shot in 65mm film instead of the usual 35mm. That meant using 450-pound cameras the size of washing machines.

There are some subtle tricks that put you on the scene of the movie. You'll feel the wind blow through your hair as a menacing attack ship passes overhead. Other details remind us of what used to be, such as the fleeting glimpse of a charred and crumpled freeway sign amid the rubble outside Skynet, a sign that used to guide motorists to the Los Angeles Civic Center.

The last part of the movie was animated entirely by computer, and at this point, the action spills over onto two side screens that help reveal the cavernous interior of Skynet. Live actors emerge from the movie again, trying to elude a hideous new Terminator model, the T-1,000,000. This one bears no resemblance to the human-shaped endoskeletons of the past.

Be prepared for a few sensations toward the end - a spray here, a jolt there.

Other than those effects and the 3-D, the attraction isn't as rough on the body as most simulator rides. Still, signs inside the entrance to ''T2 3-D'' caution pregnant women and those with heart conditions or back problems.

As for children, parents will have to weigh the story. The point of the movie is destruction, even if there isn't a single drop of blood.

The biggest issue, especially for young children, may be the noise level. With a custom-made sound system that pumps 45,620 watts through 141 speakers, you don't just hear the shooting and explosions. You feel them.